Mikketz

The Universal and the Particular The story of Joseph is one of those rare narratives in Tanach in which a Jew (Israelite/Hebrew) comes to play a prominent part in a gentile society – the others are, most notably, the books of Esther and Daniel. I want here to explore one facet of that scenario. How […]

Jews and Economics We know that Jews have won a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes, over twenty per cent of them from a group that represents 0.2 per cent of the world population, an over-representation of 100 to one. But the most striking disproportion is in the field of economics. The first Nobel Prize in […]

The Author of Our Lives It was Joseph’s first real attempt to take his fate into his own hands, and it failed. Or so it seemed. Consider the story so far, as set out in last week’s parsha. Almost everything that happens in Joseph’s life falls into two categories. The first are the things done […]

To Wait Without Despair Something extraordinary happens between last week’s parsha and this week’s. It is almost as if the pause of a week between them were itself part of the story. Recall last week’s parsha about the childhood of Joseph, focusing not on what happened but on who made it happen. Throughout the entire roller-coaster ride of Joseph’s […]

Appearance and Reality Finally after twenty-two years and many twists and turns, Joseph and his brothers meet. We sense the drama of the moment. The last time they had been together, the brothers planned to kill Joseph and eventually sold him as a slave. One of the reasons they did so is that they were […]

The Power of Dreams In one of the greatest transformations in all literature, Joseph moves in one bound from prisoner to prime minister. What was it about Joseph – a complete outsider to Egyptian culture, a “Hebrew,” a man who had for years been languishing in jail on a false charge of attempted rape – […]

The Author of our Lives It was Joseph’s first real attempt to take his fate into his own hands, and it failed. Or so it seemed. Consider the story so far, as set out in last week’s parsha. Almost everything that happens in Joseph’s life falls into two categories. The first are the things done […]

Sibling Rivalry There has been massive debate in Anglo Jewry in the past few weeks as to whether we should take a unified stance in our support of the state of Israel or whether we should openly air our differences. It’s been a noisy debate, a shrill debate, but it’s the wrong debate, and it […]

Divine Providence and Human Choice Joseph is languishing in prison. Then, at the beginning of this week’s sedra, a sequence of events takes place, leading to the most rapid, radical change of fortune in the Bible. Pharaoh has two dreams that trouble his spirit. None of his priestly retinue can decode the dreams in a […]

Man Proposes, G-d Disposes Rarely in the Torah is a sedra break more strategically placed. Last week’s sedra ends with Joseph’s bid for freedom. Having correctly interpreted the chief steward’s dream – that in three days he would be restored to his position – Joseph pleads with him: When all goes well with you, remember […]